They fought for your home. Give them a home.

Tag Archives: housing

First Lady Michelle Obama joined Mayor Landrieu of New Orleans last week to celebrate New Orleans reaching Functional Zero! New Orleans was named the first city in the United States to completely house their homeless veterans.

Last week PhillyVetsHome partners gathered in our HOMESTRETCH meeting to plan the final months before Ending Veteran Homelessness on Veterans Day of this year.

We kicked off the day by Defining the Goal: Functional Zero, discussing our Current Strategy, and identifying the Total Take Down Target, Assets, and the progress we have made thus far — including housing 862 homeless veterans since August 2013 and providing 560 more veterans with resources to find and maintain a home.

Partners teamed up to develop final strategies, goals, and actions of sustaining and improving our efforts in the Home Stretch with three primary emphases:

Continuing to implement the process and strengthen the systems to engage, assess, assist and match veterans to housing

Planning cohesive, collaborative, and clear communication

Building a sustainable process of retention through community and resources

We concluded the Home Stretch meeting with a community pledge, committing to our goal of ending veteran homelessness by Veterans day and identifying our roles and responsibilities individually and collectively to make it possible.

We are excited about the progress we have made over the past years, and recognize we still face many new obstacles ahead and can use YOUR support! If you are interested in how YOU can help, learn more here OR drop us a note!

Today, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden published an Op Ed Piece to urge all Americans to join in the effort to help end Veteran Homelessness…

“Everyone who has served America deserves a home in America. And while we know that we’ll never be able to prevent every single housing crisis for our veterans, we also know that if we set up the right systems in our communities and devote enough resources, we can get our veterans and their families back into housing quickly — and permanently”

The article mentions how businesses can individuals are getting involved through the creation of Welcome Home Kits and describes the importance that these kits can make!

Philadelphia, PA – January 9, 2015 –Philadelphia is closer than ever to eliminating veteran homelessness. Steve Culbertson, Director of Veteran and Housing Programs at Impact Services Corporation noted “Through a unique collaboration in the City, we are more than 50% of the way toward the goal of ending veteran homelessness in Philadelphia. We have housed 620 veterans since August of 2013. We will fight for every vet who needs housing to find a decent affordable place to live. It is the least we can do for their service.”

Philadelphia is part of the VA “25 Cities Initiative” which aims to build on President Obama’s 2009 announcement to end Veteran Homelessness by 2015. As cities with high veteran populations successfully stamp out veteran homelessness, as the City of New Orleans announced last week, the once wildly ambitious goal appears all the more attainable for Philadelphia.

Martha Kegel, Director of UNITY, the organization that led the final push in providing housing for homeless veterans in New Orleans, shed light on how this can be achieved in priority cities, “Of course you understand that going forward, it’s not like no one is ever going to become homeless again, but it’s about having a rapid response system in place so that the number of veterans who are in homelessness at any given point is never more than what you can house that month.” The VMC and other organizations spearheading the initiative locally, are following a similar model and after tremendous progress, expects to end veteran homelessness in Philadelphia by the end of this year.

About the Veteran’s Multi Service Center (VMC) – Since 1980, the VMC has existed solely to “serve those who served” this great nation and their families.We are the only non-profit agency in the Philadelphia and surrounding areas that provides a comprehensive resource center available to all Veterans In 2014 alone, the VMC housed over 500+ veterans and families and has boosted public discussion of Veteran Homelessness through their #RewriteTheCardboard social media campaign. For more information about the VMC, visit: www.VMCenter.org

About Impact Services – For 39 years, Impact Services, a non-profit in the Kensington area of Philadelphia, has worked to address the root causes of poverty and alleviate neighborhood distress. Impact’s Veteran Services department serves over 300 veterans a year offering homeless and disadvantaged veterans comprehensive sets of housing, employment, and supportive services.

About the City’s Office of Supportive Housing –The mission of the Office of Supportive Housing is to assist individuals and families in moving towards independent living and self-sufficiency in safe and stable housing through Philadelphia’s homeless Continuum of Care.